When to Elect?

[Pryftan]

Well, I'd like to establish it in a month or so, so I'd like to interpret it that way ;D

[teedyo]

Just a comment on nominations...I see them occurring in one(or both) of two ways:

1. Person A is nominated by whomever-
A accepts or declines nomination
If accepted-
Persons B & C second and third the nominations; A is included in the vote
If declined - so be it

or
2. Person A 'campaigns' for a position/nomination
B nominates A
C & D second and third the nomination; A is included in the vote
If A doesn't receive a nomination, 2nd or 3rd; A is not included in the vote.

Two is roughly equivalent to the US' primary/secondary method of election.

[Nadnerb]

Why spend time and energy campaigning for a council position? The most effective "campaigning" would be to simply do something useful. But if the purpose of the council, once elected, is to "do something useful", or worse "find other people and make them do something useful" then we have a bunch of useless steps in the middle.

So far, we have 3 tasks which have come up as "needing to be done": (from a cursory look at this thread)
Updating the front page to be more useable/correct
Advertising the guild to generate interest and new members ingame
Building ages

Electing a council will not update the front page of the site. The only way to do that will still be to talk directly to the person(s) administering it, and hope they actually do it.

Electing a council will not create advertisement for the guild of writers. The only way to do that will still be to write it up yourself and send it to the the messengers, or whoever you want to actually distribute it. If you know you'll be doing it, then post about it so people aren't filling redundant jobs.

Electing a council will not create ages. The only way to do that will still be to post concepts, or art, or models, and actively contribute to the process.

For instance, why not post something like this to the Guild of Messenger's feed, or to the imager in the guild of writers pub? No one has the power to give anyone permission to clear the GoW imager, so if you feel you need to do that, just do it.

Guild of Writers News:
In response to the DRC and Cyan, the group now known as the "Guild of Writers" has formed. Despite what some may say, the concept of fan-built ages has been around for a very long time. The current guild is merely building on a large foundation of existing work.
Their mission is to bring fan-created ages into MOUL. Currently they are focusing on building example explorable ages that can be downloaded and run by players with the offline game, (complete chronicles/path of the shell) with the intent of submitting these ages to Cyan upon their completion, for possible inclusion in future expansions of Uru Live. There are a number of projects already underway at the Guild of Writers forums at: forum.guildofwriters.com

Currently the tools used consist mainly of a fan-written plugin for the Blender suite that can export fully functional ages for use in the offline uru games. Not all of the features of the engine are currently supported, but the plugin is steadily improving.

Ages currently in visible development by the Guild of Writers or it's members
Ahra Pahts - A large, community oriented city age, whose main purpose is to showcase the small scale works of other writers. Status: The city is mostly complete and explorable, though no "shells" have been submitted yet.
Yinfara - An island age, currently in the concept and modelling stages. Status: Some modeling has been done. No explorable areas available.
Odema - An atmospheric age with a mysterious feel. Status: Concept is still in progress, but small explorable areas are available.
Aerie - A "home" age, being developed by Kierra. The name is tentative. Status: apparently fully explorable, but not released.

[Trylon]

On the matter of "elections":

Frankly, I'm of the opinion that the Nomination->Campaigning->Election process is an approach that does explicitly not fit out current situation.
I'm aware that for most people in the US, it seems like the obvious choice, (at least, to an outsider it appears that this system is used in almost every aspect of life in the US), but please also consider other options.
One important thing is that we are at a club level at the moment, and a country-level way of handling things isn't the best option for that.
Not in the least because at club level, the process has a huge distraction value, and often boils down to a popularity contest, rather than a decision based on skill. Also, after the election, the influence of the Guild members on the leadership decisions could be minimal to none in a worst-case scenario.

I think a much more practical approach would be the following:
(Alternative process suggested below:)
The current "administration" - Bad and Pryftan - makes up a list of jobs or council positions, and people who can and want to fill them.
This way an individual approch can be used, which can make people more comfortable with the idea, and perhaps people who wouldn't put themselves up otherwise, but'd do a good job, can be considered.

The next step would be to submit this list to the guild for approval. If the majority of a minimum of 25% of the members approves, then we have a new administration. Probably this proposal should also include the reason why people were nominated, like non-obvious previous work, if applicable.

If it's approved, we have a new administration, else a new list could be made.
The new administration would then go though the same process for any major decision.

I think this process would (at the current level) provide a more qualified administration than the overused Nomination/Campaigning/Election process, which boils down to a popularity contest so often, while the power of decision still lies with the Guild itself.
In fact, having every major decision need a Guild vote, allows for more say by the Guild members than just electing leaders, and hope they'll do right. And therefor leads to more happiness in the group.

There are more advantages, like less disturbance of the workflow.

[Pryftan]

I like that plan; using the term "election" was never meant to necessarily imply campaigning and the like, just that in some sense, the Guild would be contacted for the final verdict rather than BAD and me just picking people out of a hat ;p

[bluewyvern]

Trylon: it all sounds pretty good, except where you refer to BAD and Pryftan as "the current administration". They are not the current administration. There is no current administration. They are the forum janitors.

Moderator ≠ Leader!

As with everything else, the list of jobs should be assembled collaboratively, as BAD has already initiated. Then yeah, people should probably just volunteer.

[Trylon]

Trylon: it all sounds pretty good, except where you refer to BAD and Pryftan as "the current administration". They are not the current administration. There is no current administration. They are the forum janitors.

Moderator ≠ Leader!

True, but they're the closest thing to, and seem to do a pretty decent job

[bluewyvern]

Trylon: it all sounds pretty good, except where you refer to BAD and Pryftan as "the current administration". They are not the current administration. There is no current administration. They are the forum janitors.

Moderator ≠ Leader!

True, but they're the closest thing to, and seem to do a pretty decent job

I'll give them that. But it's because they're vocal and committed. They just happen to also be forum janitors. I just don't want anyone mistaking that position -- which is their only official one so far -- as any default vesting of authority. Quiet people would make fine moderators, too, as long as they kept on top of the forums, but they wouldn't necessarily be qualified to assume other duties or call any shots.

Everyone on this forum who's vocal and committed is a good candidate for an eventual leadership position.

I've just heard a few people now single out BAD and Pryftan as "default" leaders, and I wanted to make it clear that any such assumption should only be in consideration of the initiative they've shown so far and not because they're mods.